Chapter Fourteen
Aftermath

It was such a surreal feeling to have that freedom thrust upon me.  I’d been hoping for it for so many months now that to have it actually happen was just…I couldn’t even begin to explain it.  Mostly because I had such a hard time wrapping my head around the concept.  I didn’t expect it all to be over that quickly, and now here I was, no one trying to take over my life, and no one trying to keep Eros and myself apart.  With the exception of Penny, the people surrounding us were all people who supported us, at least at one point.  While Papa was strangely accepting of the fact that I was currently dating an actual god, I wasn’t too sure how Mom and Nona were actually going to react to the idea.  But they were accepting of it, and I’m sure they still were to some degree.  I didn’t think it hit them yet what was going on, either.  Once they had time to come to terms with the idea, it might be a completely different story.  But for now, I didn’t have anyone, at least anyone important, who was opposed to us being together.

This was what I wanted.  A normal relationship without any outside sources interfering.  To be honest, I actually would have been fine with Aphrodite disliking me if she were a normal overprotective mother – she was in her right to dislike any girl that her son deemed worthy for him.  And that would have been perfectly normal, in some sense.  But it was the fact that she was an overprotective goddess that sort of screwed me over.  Instead of being scrutinized within an inch of my life every time I was forced to see her – because I would be forced to see her on the mere idea that I was dating her son – I was punished and given tasks to complete just to prove my worth.  Or rather, so Aphrodite could extract her revenge on me, testing me until I failed one time, and then deeming me unworthy despite me having completed countless tasks without fail.  I realize now that her claiming I need to be punished because I physically hurt her son was all a farce – she was just looking for an excuse, and I walked right into it.

But that was fine.  Sure, it was nerve-wracking as hell, but it was still fine.  If some goddess wanted me to prove my worth before I started dating her son, I would do it.  I would do it to be with Eros.  I only ever had a slight issue with the idea, although it was sort of funny now.  I mean, back when I had to worry about it, it felt like the worst possible thing ever, but having to deal with someone trying to take over your life, and going so far as to prove they would literally do anything to achieve that goal, certainly put things into perspective.  Now I felt like I could handle Aphrodite a million times over. 

That was one reason it was so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I was free.  I didn’t think Psyche would give up that easily, not with the goal she had in mind.  I did find it a little funny how no one considered that option before, leaving her in the Underworld like she had wanted in the first place, and leaving me to wander the Earth like my soul had wanted to.  It was such an obvious solution, and it was win/win for all parties involved.  I would have thought Persephone, perhaps Hades, would have thought of it before, but it too Hedone to do it?  I understand why no one else thought of it, considering that no one but the rulers of the dead actually knew what the deal was.  Hell, they were the only ones who knew the souls had been split in order to all the mortal half to reincarnate.  That would have been a useful tidbit from the start.  I might not be living the life I do now, but at least I’d be with Eros.

“That was…unexpected,” Mom said slowly when she realized that no one else was saying anything.  “Did she seriously just disappear into thin air?”

“She was returning to her rightful place,” Hades pointed out.  “She never actually had a physical body like you mortals do, so her soul can travel instantaneously if she so pleased, especially now that she anchored herself to the Underworld.”

“What exactly does that mean for our Psyche?” Papa asked, standing with ease as Persephone started to unchain my family.

“It means that Psyche’s no longer anchored to the Underworld like she once was.  Her soul will never know true death like a normal mortal’s.  Depending on her choice, she’ll either remain immortal, or else be constantly reincarnated.”

“Depending on my choice?” I started to ask, but Maddie decided to interrupt me.

“But what does that mean in the long run?  Does that mean that she won’t be with us when we die?”

Persephone glanced at her and chuckled slightly.  “Unfortunately,” she said.  “Unless she chose to become immortal, in which case, she could visit you in the Underworld whenever she liked.”

Hades gave her a hard look.  “They don’t belong to our Underworld, Persephone,” he pointed out.  “They believe in a different god.”

“I seriously doubt that matters,” Persephone said, still looking amused.  “Besides, are you really going to allow them to go to another Underworld when they actually have a connection to our culture now?”

He rolled his eyes at her.  “I suppose this is something you can all worry about later.  Worrying about it now wouldn’t exactly help matters, not when you all have a good, long while before it actually becomes a problem.  Enjoy your time together without the worry.  That’s always the best option.”

“Oh, we intended to,” Mom said honestly.

I took a breath, and steeled myself.  “Mom, Nona, I’m sorry you got involved in all this.  I was sort of hoping that you wouldn’t, and that I could keep this all from you.  I know that sounds terrible, but…”

“Sweetheart, I’m glad,” Mom insisted.  “Yes, I do understand why you would keep something like this from us.  As far as I can tell, you’ve been pretty honest about everything else, and if I hadn’t seen this with my own two eyes, I know I wouldn’t have believed it if you told me.  I’m not angry at you, don’t worry.”

Nona merely glanced at Hades.  “My family’s history is riddled with relatives claiming to be involved with the gods,” she said to me.  “My own mother claimed that my youngest brother was the son of Zeus, although the rest of us just chalked that up to her having an affair while our father was out of the country for business.  Of course, after that, our family had the worst of luck, which naturally, was attributed to Hera.  I just figured we were just going through a rough patch.”

“I believe the former,” Hades said dryly.

“Nik here used to laugh at the stories I told him about us being descended from gods, but I suppose it sank in regardless, considering how accepting he is of all this,” she added accusingly.

He shrugged.  “Well, it’s also because it’s Psyche telling me this.  What reason does Psyche have to lie to me, especially about dating a god?”

“And you’re okay with that?  The fact that Eros is the actual Eros?”

Both Mom and Papa gave him a hard look while he looked extremely uncomfortable.  The only time my parents really judged him was when they thought him human, so actually judging him with the truth was going to be harsh, I’m sure.  “I don’t have any problem with it,” Mom admitted.  “He seems like a nice enough boy, if you ask me.”

“No boy is ever going to all right for my Psyche, but as long as he loves her, and she loves him back, then I don’t have a problem with it, either.”

Nona was the one who spoke the most negatively.  “How long have you been chasing her soul, boy?” she demanded of him, jabbing a finger in his direction.

“Er, since I found out she was being reincarnated?  So about fifteen hundred years at this point?”

Maddie sort of snorted at that fact, although I have no idea why.  She should be one to talk, anyway.  Sure, Zephyrus hadn’t been chasing her for centuries, but she was dating a god all the same.

Nona shrugged.  “Well, if you ask me, he’d be far more dedicated to her than any normal mortal boy she could find.  So long as he doesn’t actually hurt her, than I can’t imagine it really being any different than if she were in love with a mortal boy.”

“True enough,” Mom said, smiling at me.  “It might be unconventional, but we’re fine with it, Psyche.”

“And are the gods fine with my family knowing?” I asked carefully.

They all sort of glanced at Hades, who seemed surprised.  “Don’t look at me; I don’t speak for the gods,” he insisted.  “All I care about is keeping order within my own realm.  I don’t care if a few mortals know about it so long as they don’t come in and try to disrupt my order.”

“I don’t see a problem with it,” Hedone said, rocking back on her heels, looking like her old, normal, cheerful self again.  “I mean, all they do nowadays is bitch about how no one knows about them anymore, and how their power is dwindling.  A few mortals knowing should help correct that.”

“I have no idea why the hell you people are so happy,” Penny said, clearly tired of being ignored.  I personally had forgotten she was there, but once she made her presence known, I was a little surprised she waited that long to actually say anything.  “This isn’t exactly going to end well for Psyche, you know.”

We all just sort of blinked at her, and she looked annoyed that she was going to have to spell it out for us.  “Psyche, the wedding,” Maddie said slowly.

“Yeah?” I said.  “So I’ll look horrible on national television.  It’s no big deal.  I don’t really care what other people think of me, anyway.”

“God, you’re daft,” Penny said, rolling her eyes.  “You should worry about what other people think about you.  Because you’re going to look like a bitch.  But seriously, what is Phoebe going to think?”

“Phoebe?  She’s forgiven me.”

“Has she really?  She claims to have, but the fact of the matter is that it happened, and it’ll always been on her mind.  She’ll always been tip toeing around you, wondering when you’re going to go off on her again.  She acts like she knows the truth, but even I know that she can’t really tell if you were being honest with her or not.  Do you really want to have that sort of relationship with your sister?”

“What the hell do you care?” I shot at her.  “You always wanted me to have a horrible relationship with both my sisters.”

I felt Maddie lay a hand on my arm.  “Psyche, I know you better than that.  Once that show airs, you’ll be seen as a monster, even if there’s an official story.  There’ll be people who’ll question it.  You never wanted to negative exposure that your sisters had, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen.  She’s right; there’s no escaping it.”

“Are you talking about the issue created by the renegade soul and the Erinyes?” Hades asked slowly.

“Well, yeah.  Psyche took over my body for the day and made me ruin my sister’s wedding.  Seriously, I don’t care about that.  I can just hide for a time until people settle down about it.”

Hades shook his head.  “I think there might be an easier solution to this, although I’m a bit loath to mention this.”  He shuttered slightly.  “It might be for the best, though, because we don’t really need a rouge soul’s influence to appear in public.”

“Hades, are you really suggesting this?” Persephone asked, surprised.

“Suggesting what?” I asked, a little nervous.  If it wasn’t something Hades wanted to do, then it couldn’t be too good.

He let out his breath.  “I think we’ll have to see my brother about this,” he admitted, looking a little sick to his stomach.

The gods all sort of glanced at each other, wearing wary masks, although not nearly as bad as the one Hades was wearing.  Eros and Zephyrus sort of shrugged at each other, almost like they were fine with this decision.  “Your brother?  You can’t mean Zeus, do you?” Nona managed to squeak out for some reason.  I had never seen my brother nervous about anything in her life before, although I suppose this time would make sense.

“Certainly.  He’s the only one amongst us now who holds Father’s power over time,” Hades stated matter-of-factly, like we were just supposed to know this.

“And he’s just going to see us, just like that?” I asked.  “Don’t we need to make an appointment or something?  Mr. Kalonimos is a very busy man, after all.”

“Kalonimos?” Mom asked, glancing at Papa, who just sort of waved her off for the time being.

Hades shrugged.  “He can be, but when it actually comes to matters involving the gods, he’s usually free.  It’s a bit complicated, unfortunately.”

“How exactly are we going to see Zeus?” Maddie asked, acting like she were invited as well.  And really, why wouldn’t she be?  She was privy to all this as much anyone else.

Hades sort of let out a shutter, since I knew he really, really didn’t want to do this, and suddenly, we were no longer in the eerie cave.  Instead, we seemed to be in a sort of almost glowing throne room which seemed awfully familiar to me, like I had been there several times before, and couldn’t remember when.  It was highly disorienting to be transported in that manner, and even Persephone seemed annoyed at Hades that he would just take us here without any real warning.

I was able to acclimate a little quicker than my parents and grandmother, and spun around to face the opposite side of the room, where the large silver throne sat, the cause of most of the light in the room.  A figure sat amidst the glow, darkening it slightly.  He didn’t seem at all surprised to have a large group like this suddenly appear in his throne room, and I was sort of under the impressing that this actually happened quite often.  “Hades,” he said in a delighted tone as he stood to greet us.  “What an amazing surprise!  I never imagined you would come willingly to visit me!  Never in a million years.”

“Can it, moron,” Hades said dryly, which was a little jarring.  I mean, he was talking to the king of the gods in that manner?  I mean, yes, it made sense, considering they were brothers and Hades held Zeus in contempt.  But it was still bizarre to hear.  Even my parents and grandmother seemed shocked at this.  “I’m sure you as much as anyone else would know what we’re here.”

Zeus sighed before settling back onto his throne.  “I might,” he said.  “Depends on what’s in it for me.”

“Papa,” Persephone said, standing from the kneel the lesser gods had dropped to upon finding themselves in the room.  “Are you going to be that selfish that you’re not going to even listen to our arguments?”

“What’s there to listen to?  I know what you seek.  You want me to correct the damaged wrought by the mortal Psyche’s soul as well as this Erinyes you brought before me.”

“So, what’s the problem?” Hades demanded.  “You can fix the problem.  It’s not exactly fair to Psyche, you know.”

“Fair?” he demanded, looking amused.  “What do I can what’s fair to mortals?  She brought this upon herself, after all, choosing to fall for an immortal.”

“Now see, that’s not fair,” Persephone pointed out.  “You know what she is; she couldn’t help falling in love with Eros anymore than you can help Hera being a jealous housewife.  This is all my fault, anyway, and it’s not exactly right to allow her to continue to suffer because of it.”

“She seems to have come to terms with it,” he mused.  “I don’t see why you’re seeking my assistance with this.”

“What, are you people seriously all seeing?” I muttered to Eros.

“Not all of us,” he told me.  “I’m attuned to you mostly because we’re connected, but all I can really get with you is a sense of what’s going on.  The Higher Gods – the children of Cronus, actually can be if they want to be.  It creeps out as well, sometimes.”

I just shook my head, wondering exactly what these gods were seeing about my life.

“Sir, if I may,” Mom surprised us all by speaking up, looking nervous as hell as she did so.  She paused, though, looking confused when she looked up and saw Zeus for the first time.  “You look remarkably like Diomedes Kalonimos.”

“I am Diomedes Kalonimos,” he said, looking highly amused.  Mom glanced at Papa, who just shrugged at her.  She swallowed and continued.

“Psyche might be fine with leaving her life as it is, with the fact that she was forced to ruin her sister’s wedding still intact.  But the truth of the matter is that Psyche really doesn’t deserve that sort of publicity.  She’s been striving to be kind and thoughtful, the sort of person that is approachable and people can look up to.  Yes, it might not be fair to other mortals who have similar situations occur to them, but please; considering helping my daughter in any method you can.”

He glanced at me, and I shuttered a little under his gaze.  He still looked highly amused at the situation, although I couldn’t fathom why he would be.  Hades was the one who finally called him out on his behavior.  “You were going to do it long before we came here, weren’t you?” he demanded of his brother.

Zeus’ smile broadened.  “I am no cruel to mortals who are brave enough to seek my audience, Hades,” he told him.  “Besides, it’s not like I don’t know Psyche Karalis or anything, and understand why this would be important.  She’s a sweet girl, and really doesn’t deserve this sort of punishment.  It was caused by possession, anyway, and you know how we frown upon that.”

“You’re terrible,” Hades sighed.  “Why lead them on like that?”

“Well, why not?  It’s not as satisfying if I just outright agree to it.  Besides, I have helped her out once before.”

“Ah, right,” Papa said, more relaxed since he technically was just saying an old colleague of his.  “Zeus was the one who ended up getting Aphrodite off Psyche’s back in the myth.  Why didn’t you just go to him in the first place, Psyche, and avoid all this?”

“Dear, she’s eighteen,” Mom said.  “She’s at that age when, if someone tells her she can’t do something, she’ll prove them wrong.  Going before the king of gods would sort of be like tattling.”

“Is that why you didn’t?  I was sort of wondering, actually.  We could have solved this all quickly, Miss Karalis.”

I felt my cheeks start to heat up.  “Well, yeah.  This was my problem to deal with, and I didn’t really want to involve anyone else.  Aphrodite might have hated me more if I told on her.”

“I told her to knock it off with the hatred, and that involved Psyche’s reincarnations,” Zeus said, shaking his head.  “But you’re most likely right; Aphrodite is the most vain of the gods, excepting my own wife, so earning her trust was most likely the right method.  When Psyche came to me in the past, she had beaten several of Aphrodite’s trials, and thus, had started to earn her trust.”

“So what exactly’s gonna happen?” Maddie asked, looking nervous like she should, but also bold enough to talk to the king of gods.  He, out of all of them, actually did seem the most approachable, despite the fact that he seemed to be glowing.  It might be because he wasn’t of a monstrous height like his brother, though.

“Easy enough,” Zeus admitted, shrugging.  “Her possession never happened.  No one’s going to remember it, save for the people in this room, and there’ll be no record of it happening.  The wedding, as far as everyone knows, went off smoothly and wonderfully, and the only issue that was had was Penny over there getting into the punch and having to fight off bridesmaids to insist she shouldn’t be drinking in her condition.”

I glanced at Penny, who was glowering a little in the corner.  I was surprised she still hadn’t said anything, since she wasn’t the focus of the conversation, but it was easy enough to see why she hadn’t.  She actually looked to be in pain, her lips curled into a grimace.  It was a pain she couldn’t figure out or escape from, so all she could do was attempt to hide.

“Forgive me for asking, but is there anything to be done about my sister?” I found myself asking, surprising even myself.

“Hmm, this is true,” he mused.  “After all, she was an accomplice in this mess.  She allied herself with a rogue soul, and proceeded to break rules.  She most certainly needs to be punished.”

“Punished?” she spat out.  “Like hell I do!  You’re all uppity about my darling baby sister, when she’s the one who deserves this hardship in the first place!”

“Penelope!” Mom said, horrified.  “How can you say that about your own sister?”

“Punishment?”  I asked.  “What are you going to do to my sister?”

“Your sister?” Zeus asked surprised.  “Your sister’s done nothing wrong, actually.  She, much like you, is currently being possessed.  It’s just that her possession’s a little more unique, and we sort of have to treat it as such.”

“She’s being overshadowed by an Erinyes,” Eros reminded me.

“Yes,” I said.  “But I thought she was born with it.”

“Yes and no,” Hades admitted.  “Erinyes typically possess fetuses, such that they’re born directly into the child.  But their influences can take decades to take over fully.  In the meantime, the mortal is merely overshadowed, more and more as the years go by.  I suspect that Penelope is close to being a full Erinyes, but not quite at that level yet.  She’s simply being influenced at this point.”

I frowned, considering that.  It wasn’t until she was actually in school, around other children, that she started to turn into the monster that she was, and now that I thought about it, it was a gradual change.  It wasn’t really until recently that she shifted strictly into someone who cared only about herself.  Yes, she only liked people who thought like she did, who fawned over her, but she still cared for them.  Hell, it wasn’t until recently that she really started treating Phoebe like crap, which was what lead to their eventual falling out.

“So what can be done?” Mom asked, looking worried.  Naturally, she didn’t like the idea of anything possessing any of her children.

“Oh, it’s quite simple, actually,” Zeus said, strolling from his throne this time.  He approached Penny as she really started writhing in pain, his mere presence causing it.  I hated seeing her like that, actually, as much as she deserved it after all those years of torturing me.  He gave Hades a sort of wry look, while Hades rolled his eyes and moved to join his brother.

We couldn’t exactly see what was going on, but it looked like both gods placed a hand on Penny’s forehead, which caused her writhing to reach a peak, and for her to yell out in absolute pain.  It was a sickening sound, actually, and Papa had to hold Mom back from rushing to her rescue.  The glowing around Penny increased until it was almost blinding, and we all had to look away for a moment until it receded, and we could look in that direction again.

Penny, however, seemed to be slumped over as Zeus and Hades stepped away.  Zeus looked proud of himself while Hades just looked annoyed.  Papa released Mom at that point, so she rushed at Penny and cradled her head with a concerned look on her face.  “What did they just do?”

“Exorcised her,” Persephone sighed.  “We could have done this sooner if we had known Megera had possessed her.  But the only way to exorcise an Erinyes is to have two of the six children of Cronos do it.  This was literally the only way to do it.”

“Is she…is she okay?” Maddie asked, leaning against Zephyrus in fear.  He had his arms wrapped around her tightly.

“She’s fine,” Hades said.  “She wasn’t physically hurt from our presence; the Erinyes was.  She’s sleeping.  Once she’s home, she’ll wake without any memory of this, and she’ll be as she was meant to be, more or less.  It’ll take time for the influence to wear off completely, so it won’t be an overnight change.  Which I think’ll work out a little better in the long run.”

“But she’s fine, right?” Papa asked, looking just as concerned as Mom.

“She’s fine,” Zeus reassured him.  “Of course, that now brings us to our main problem.”

“Main problem?” I asked innocently, having no idea what the hell he was talking about.

“You, my dear,” he informed me.  This was news to me.

“What do you mean?  How am I the main problem?”

“Well, you’re not exactly,” he said, smiling at me.  “However, now that you’re little problem is taken care of, it’s probably a good time to bring this up.”

Eros was shaking his head at his king, but I was just confused as everyone else.  “Bring what up?”

“Your choice,” he stated simply.

I think if I had been paying closer attention, I might have figured out what he was talking about.  It had, after all, been a concern of mine for quite a while, and sort of a question I had ever since I found out that I possessed the immortal soul of Psyche.  But considering everything that was going on – Psyche returning permanently to the Underworld, my ruining my sister’s wedding eradicated from history, and Penny’s exorcism – it completely slipped my mind.

“What choice?” I asked.  “Do I have to choice if I want to remain a part of this world or something?  Are you planning on making me forget any of this happened?”

“Of course not,” he laughed.  “I know the answer to that idea, anyway.  You’ve been through far too much to simply want to forget it.  No, I’m talking about your soul.  You have an unique situation, Psyche Karalis, of having an immortal soul in a mortal body.  You can choose to be either one.”

“Either one?” I said slowly.  “I thought because I had an immortal soul, I was automatically immortal.”

He shook his head.  “A common misconception.  Your immortal soul merely manifests a few of its powers through you, but because its trapped in a mortal body, it still has limitations.  You could chose to remain mortal – age and die as you were meant to, and be reincarnated into a new life.  Or you could chose to join the ranks of the gods, and live out eternity as you are now.”

I stared at him for a moment, surprised I was even given this choice.  I had always assumed it was one or the other.  Everyone seemed to insist that I was immortal already thanks to my soul, while I assumed I was mortal because I felt mortal.  I aged and ached and felt pain.  Apparently, I was the one who was right, but now I was actually being given the choice.

It was hard to decide.  All I knew as being mortal.  If I stayed mortal, I could stay with Papa, Mom, and Maddie as they grew old and died, and I would die as well.  And then I would be made to forget, and I could find and fall for Eros all over again.  It was tempting. 

But to be honest, the answer was fairly obvious.  It was something I had been thinking about for a good long while.  It was just that no one asked if I wanted it that caused me to pause.  If I was immortal, I would get to keep the memories of this life – of Papa, Mom, Maddie, and everyone else I had met and loved.  Yes, I would lose them someday – watch them grow old and die – but being immortal – being a god – would mean that the Underworld would be open to me.  Which meant that once they were gone, I could still see everyone I had ever lost.  And I would get to remain with Eros as we were.

That, of course, was pretty much the deal breaker.  Yes, we’d get to experience to joy of falling in love over and over again, but I had already vowed to myself that I would never hurt or leave him again.  Remaining mortal would hurt him, I knew, because he would have to watch me die, and then I might not be exactly the same in my next incarnation.  He fell for me, Psyche Karalis, more so than he fell for my soul.  I was different from the first Psyche.  I knew what I was doing by agreeing to this, what I was giving up as well as what I was gaining. 

I wasn’t really giving anything up, after all.  Psyche might not have realized the easy solution to her depression, despite being best friends with the goddess of death, but I certainly did.  I had nothing to worry about, except maybe no one allowing me to continue to live as a mortal despite the fact.  That was the only thing I wanted out of it, but I couldn’t think of a reason it couldn’t happen.

I honestly don’t think anyone was surprised when I glanced up at my future king, and told him confidently, “Well, that’s easy; I chose to become a goddess.”

Chapter Thirteen

Cupid and Psyche Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen